A
non-Western,
non-Permanent
Five member of
the Security
Council told
Inner City
Press that his
country's
intelligence
service put
the
number killed
at "less than
two dozen." He
hastened to
say
this is still
"bad," and
criticized the
Assad
government
for using
heavy weapons.

But
the
disparity in
casualty
figures -- 200
to "less than
two
dozen" --
highlights the
differences in
the Security
Council. It
was Syrian
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari who
said, on UN
TV, that he
and "many
Syrians" do
not believe Al
Jazeera.
He has added,
Saudi-funded
Al Arabiya.
But who do
you believe?

More
troubling,
the UNSMIS
report on the
Houla massacre
appears to
have
been buried,
at least to
some Council
members. Inner
City Press has
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesmen
about it a
number of
times, and
each
time they have
said that Ban
distributed it
to the UN's
human rights
experts to
look at before
giving to the
Security
Council. How
long
can this take?

Some
Security
Council member
accuse the
French chief
of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
of "sitting
on" the Houla
report.
Ladsous
does not speak
to the Press
-- or media,
other than in
the most
controlled
settings -- so
his role and
even side of
the story
cannot
yet be told.

Update:
as the experts
level meeting
broke up at
noon on
Friday,
experts told
Inner City
Press that the
previously
scheduled (all
15) Perm Reps
meeting for
the afternoon
has been
changed to
"Permanent
Five only."
Watch this
site.